A Peek Inside Bloomberg’s Digital Signage

December 17, 2012

For the past ten years at Bloomberg, we’ve been using digital signage in bold, innovative ways that seamlessly integrates into the building architecture and provides important real-time information such as market data, news, company messages and key metrics. So needless to say, I was thrilled to accept a “Reggie” award for “Best Stadium/Office Building/Corporate/ Hotel, Hospitality or Leisure Install” at the DailyDOOH Gala Awards held at the historic Banqueting House in London. (Reggie is the Daily DOOH’s site mascot. He’s been called a crow, a duck, but we think he looks like a dodo bird)

The judges were looking for the best building-based digital signage installations. This category included stadia, building projections, corporate communication networks, as well as deployments that may have been made in entrance halls, atriums, reception areas, call centres, hotel lobbies and casinos.

One of our main digital signage displays in Bloomberg’s New York office is called the Link (because it links the east and west sides of the building). This is like our version of Grand Central Station in New York, or King’s Cross Station in London or Berlin Hauptbahnhof – a main connection point for visitors and employees. It features enormous strips of LED containing real-time news and financial information harnessed from the Bloomberg terminal. (Obviously we did not shoot this during business hours.)

We also use digital signage as a key touchpoint in our employee communication network for things such as employee recognition, volunteer opportunities and operational metrics that improve workflow management (e.g. how many calls are in the queue). Last year we published more than 5K unique messages to more than 800 displays around the globe. All of the displays are either projected on large surfaces or hang from the ceiling and can be seen by everyone which helps foster our culture of transparency.

While digital signage has certainly come a long way over the past few years, we’ve only just scratched the surface. Look out for more innovations from Bloomberg in digital signage.